LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – U.S. actor Danny Glover said Thursday that he is in Nigeria to star in a movie based on people who risked and sacrificed their lives to stop the spread of Ebola in Africa’s most populous country.
Glover said he is proud to take part in the film, called “93 Days,” because of the achievements made by the real-life characters. Nigerian actress Bimbo Akintola will portray Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, who diagnosed the first Ebola case in Nigeria, and stubbornly refused to discharge the Liberian man who was sick with the infection despite pressure.
Adadevoh eventually died along with seven other people who contracted the deadly disease. Her actions ensured that the fast-spreading viral infection was quickly contained.
Glover will portray the director of the hospital where Adadevoh worked.
Akintola said the movie is a story of how Nigeria- a country where many institutions have weakened due to endemic corruption and ethnic strife – triumphed over the spread of Ebola, which ravaged her West African neighbors of Guinea, Sierra-Leone and Liberia